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Burger 21 opens in Novi, Michigan {and a gift card giveaway!}

*Disclosure: I received a free meal at the soft opening of Burger 21 in exchange for this post. All opinions expressed here, however, are my own. A friend told me that Burger 21 was opening in Novi, MI recently, and later I got the chance to check it out at its soft opening. Burger 21 is a chain restaurant, but Novi is its first Michigan locations, and they have hopes to expand in the next few years as well.

The interior of the restaurant was decorated very nicely, with modern designs. My parents and I sat in one of the booths, which could have comfortably sat four people, and I really liked the design of the booths. One of my favorite parts of the restaurant is the shake bar at the back (see pic, above) - it reminded me of an old-fashioned soda fountain, in drugstores, where people used to go to share shakes or sodas.

Burger 21's menu is very varied; I'm a bit of a picky eater sometimes, but I found a burger I wanted to try, "The Shroom" burger (lettuce, tomato, crimini mushrooms, onions, fontina cheese, toasted brioche bun). I wasn't sure if I like fontina cheese or not but it was delicious. I also added an order of sweet potato fries, as well as a Cookies & Cream milkshake.

My mom doesn't usually eat beef so she ordered a Monterey Chicken burger, with turkey chili and a Bananas Foster shake, and my dad ordered a BBQ Bacon Burger, french fries, and a soda.

I would compare Burger 21 to Smashburger, but their burgers are very different: Burger 21's is more of a meaty, larger burger, whereas Smashburger's is thinner. I haven't had a burger in a long time and this burger really hit the spot, for me; it was juicy and delicious.

Cookies & Cream milkshake

I unfortunately usually have to stay away from dairy, too, but I HAD to try a shake at Burger 21, and I'm glad I did: my Cookies & Cream shake was fantastic. My mom really enjoyed her Bananas Foster shake too, which is topped with a slice of real banana.

Bananas Foster milkshake

For your first trip to Burger 21, I'd advise you to download their app: you get a free Cheesy Burger just for signing up (your standard cheeseburger, with American, cheddar or Swiss cheese). For every seven "punches" on the app (ie, every seven times) you go there, you get a $5 reward, too (minimum $6 purchase each time), and if you sign in to the app using Facebook, you automatically get one "punch" that counts towards the seven - great deal.

Burger 21 is located at 26425 Novi Rd., Novi, MI 48375, and can be reached at (248) 513-4333, or on its website.GIVEAWAY:

The nice people over at Burger 21 have a $21 gift card for one of my lucky readers to win! (ha - see what they did there??)

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Tuesday, April 26th, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified via email the next day and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Must live within driving distance to a Burger 21 location to enter this giveaway - full list of locations can be found here.

{Burger 21, as of this writing, can be found in MI, TX, IL, PA, FL, GA, NC, NJ, NY, and VA}

So we've all been there ... that time when you're on an important phone call, and then the call drops. Or even when you need to use the internet on your smartphone, only to realize that you're at your data limit for the month.

I drive all over the metro Detroit area for movie screenings; because of this, most of the time I know where I'm going, but sometimes, I'm in an unfamiliar area or at an unfamiliar theater and I need GPS to know how to get there and back.

A few months ago, I was headed to the AMC Forum (Sterling Heights area) and I wanted to know the best way to get home from there. My phone kept stalling ... and stalling ... and then the Maps app crashed! Gah! I was extremely frustrated. I was finally able to re-start the phone and get safely home, but it TOOK. SO. LONG. Had the Maps app worked the fir…

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. As long-time readers of this blog surely know, I travel quite a lot. A few years ago, I only took about 2-3 trips per year, not including trips in the state of Michigan (Grand Haven weekends, etc.), but this past year, I was fortunate in that I was able to travel very frequently.

I recently heard about a new travel site, DirectHotels.com, which is similar to Kayak.com, in that it searches all of the other travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) to find the best deals for you. I gave it a bit of a test run to see if that is indeed true.

About the site:
DirectHotels.com is a new hotel comparison tool that challenges the big brands. Travelers can easily compare all the travel sites in one place to find the cheapest hotel. DirectHotels.com compares over 200 bookings sites, so users can be sure about its accuracy. Using DirectHotels.com means that you will never overpay.

I've written these past two years about Bookstock, a huge used book & media sale that takes place at Laurel Park Place, in Livonia, and it's returning again this year, from Sunday, 4/22 through Sunday, 4/29.Read more about the event over at my book blog! I was finally able to check it out last year, and they had a large mix of books and media (including DVDs, Blu-rays, and records).To learn more about Bookstock, click hereto visit my book blog, or visit their official site here.